Henrik Sedin knows the Vancouver Canucks are B.C.'s team.
He learned that 15 years ago, not long after he joined the team for his first training camp with the Canucks in his native Sweden. Now he's feeling the love from the hockey fans of Prince George, many of whom are seeing the Canucks in person for the first time.
"We know we have the whole province behind us during the season and being close to the people up here in Prince George, it's great for us, and it's great for hockey," said Sedin.
Autograph-seekers formed long lines hanging over the exits around the rink and in the CN Centre parking lot before the Canucks boarded the bus after Friday's workouts. Henrik and his twin brother Daniel attracted a ton of attention.
"This is a bigger city than the one we grew up in (Ornskoldsvik) and it's fun," said Henrik. "We know we have a lot of fans here. I've never been to Prince George before and it's a great experience."
Roughly 2,500 spectators showed up Friday and sellout crowds of close to 6,000 are expected today and Sunday. Canucks president Trevor Linden knew the team would be well-received.
"The people of northern B.C. are special, passionate hockey fans and good caring people and they've been so welcoming to our group, and this facility is outstanding," said Linden.
"I think it's really important that our players understand the Vancouver Canucks are really B.C.'s team and our veteran guys do, but we have a lot of young guys and a lot of guys who are new to the team. So just to see the passion for this team is a lot of fun and it's going to serve us well.
"Prince George deserves to see this team and it's a good fit. It's a good homecoming for Dan (Hamhuis). He's a proud northerner from Smithers who played hockey here and it was nice to see the reception he got today when he stepped on the ice."
CHARA'S SHADOW: Newly arrived Canucks defenceman Matt Bartkowski, 27, grew up in Pittsburgh and his favourite player was Mario Lemieux, but he was a New Jersey Devils fan who tried to pattern himself after former Devils captain Scott Stevens. Originally drafted by Florida, Bartkowski ended up with Boston and played 131 regular season and 15 playoff games for the Bruins before the Canucks signed him this summer as a free agent.
The six-foot-one, 196-pound Bartkowski is a stay-at-home type not known as a goal-scorer with just one playoff goal in his NHL career but he brings an element of speed to the Canucks blueline. While he was in Boston, Bartkowski learned a thing or two watching Bruins captain Zdeno Chara, a former Prince George Cougar defenceman, wreak havoc on opponents with his physical nature and six-foot-nine 255-pound stature.
"It's kind of different trying to learn from him on the ice because you're not going to be able to play like him, just how big he is, but situationally he definitely (was) a huge help," said Bartkowski. "He's been around awhile and off the ice he's such a good professional and such a good leader, you could probably spend 10 years with him and you probably wouldn't learn half of it.
"That was a big thing in Boston, a lot of boxing out and not even letting players get to the front of the net so it's something I'm very familiar with and I'm sure I can chip in."
COACH CORNERED: With head coach Willie Desjardins back home in Vancouver recovering from hip replacement surgery, assistant coach Glen Gulutzan is running the camp, with help from the other Canucks assistants, Perry Pearn, Doug Lidster, and Roland Melanson.
Gulutzan plans to crank up the intensity of the camp today and Sunday once the players become more familiar with the systems Desjardins wants in place and liked how the players responded to the
Day 1 drills.
"There's always a little juice on the first day of camp and with the people of P.G. in the stands cheering them on it's amped up a little bit - a good first day for us," said Gulutzan.
"(Desjardins) might not be here... but he's in touch with all of us quite often and he certainly has his fingerprints on everything that we're doing here."
Gulutzan says it's a big adjustment for the younger players who were part of the Young Stars rookie tournament last week in Penticton when they suddenly have NHL veterans to deal with and that will become more apparent as the camp progresses.
"When the big guys get on the ice, everything become crisper and cleaner and what you're going to see is some guys can handle that and some can't," said Gulutzan.
"It's hard to tell on the first day because there's a lot of energy out there but as camp moves on you'll just see the polish of the veterans come out and you'll see which young guys can stay the pace."
NEXT WEEK: The Canucks open the exhibition season Monday in Colwood (North Saanich) against the San Jose Sharks. Colwood won the Kraft Hockeyville contest for the right to host a preseason game. The Canucks' regular season start Oct. 7 in Calgary... Friday's 50/50 payoff was more than $2,500. All proceeds from the draws this weekend will go to local charities.
